A Family Tradition
A tradition is formed once a group of people do something repetitively for a period of time and every year (usually during December), my aunties, uncles and cousins would drive up from
Twas’ was the story of this year’s family reunion.
Once again, we met up at Uncle William’s bungalow in 
To be really honest, I did not want our family reunion to be in Cameron again, for this was already the fifth time I was up there within two years! I have been to the Bee’s Farm, Kea’s Farm, Butterfly Farm, Ravi Strawberry Farm, well just about all the farms there. Oh well, the more important aspect of reunions are the people right?
Right.
We arrived at the bungalow when the short hand of the clock pointed to three. At that time, our cousins and an uncle and an aunty was already there. Imagine leaving 
After that I went back up to join my cousins and brother and sister to a game of Scrabble. Halfway through, there was a black out, nevertheless, we continued playing anyways.
My other auntie and uncle came at eight in the night, just in time for dinner. Apparently, they were stuck in the immigration from morning before they were released. Dinner was as usual, Aunty Jessica’s (Uncle William’s wife) steamboat, once again I would like to stress, this is the one place you can get the very best steamboat! No joke!
After dinner, we just hung around and slept I guess.
Once the sun started to smile at the bungalow, we ate our breakfast and went towards the Boh Plantation. Just for extra info, did you know that Boh stands for Best of Highlands? Apparently there was this Viewpoint where we could get a very scenic view of the plantation. So up we went.
Then down we went once again. Drank some tea flavoured sugar in that little tea shop ate a piece of strawberry pie and a piece of cake, and then we went home and prepared ourselves for lunch. What type of preparation is there that needs to be done before lunch I wonder?
We had lunch in Tanah Rata, I ate a plate of nasi pattaya (not that you would want to know). Once lunch was swimming within us and playing hide and seek with our enzymes, we decided to go get a couple of souvenirs (better buy some birthday presents earlier than to rush to Summit a day before their birthday right?). Scones with lemon something came right after that. I know what you are thinking. This guy crazy, eat, eat, eat, eat and eat only. Sorry larh brother, I Malaysian mah! Got problem arh?
After consulting with Uncle William, we decided to try taking Jungle Walk 13 which was beside the bungalow. The path up the jungle walk was almost a forty five degrees slope and the best part was the paths were muddy. Despite our efforts, instead of arriving in Tanah Rata, we ended up in some egg plant plantation. That was when it started to rain. So in the rain, we had to find another less perilous path through the chrysanthemum plantation back to the bungalow.
Dinner was also Aunty Jessica’s cooking: tofu, two types of fishes, two vegetables, pork, curry chicken and rice. Once again all of the dishes were swallowed in while mouthfuls of compliments came pouring out. Seriously larh, she can really cook! We played Uno Stacko after that.
In the morning, we went back to the Jungle Walk 9 that we had taken last year. Talk about déjà vu, it was also muddy this time, the paths were small and slippery, there were logs blocking us here and there and we met more white people (there was also a couple with a pair of Dalmatians)! Oh ya, I met a Seafieldian in the jam shop after the walk, Jeremy. It’s a small world after all.
It was raining by then, we tried to search for Jungle Walk 9 and we succeeded. Sadly enough, it was overgrown and there was no way we could get into there with all that growth. So once again, old man world repeats itself and in that pouring rain, we had to take Jungle Walk 13 back to the bungalow. Although it was raining and the path was more slippery (I fell twice), I felt I enjoyed the walk as we were all busy looking for sticks of suitable length to increase our stability. 
We arrived home wet, muddy, sweaty and tired. By then it was about five, just in time for scones! Pass the marmalade please!
Dinner was barbeque. Then the adults gave out presents (for early Christmas) and the children (that’s us) receive presents! Sounds good right? Night fell once more and it was our last night in Cameron.
In the morning, we packed up and had our yearly photography session. Talk about tradition. I like the umbrella shots.
After the winding roads and the Tapah lunch, we arrived back home around four. My cousins and my aunty and grandparents were now in KL in my grandpa’s house. The rest were on the way back to
Most of the time spent together with my cousin and my auntie was on playing badminton, monopoly, watching weird movies, ultimate Frisbee, eating Char Keuy Teow and there was once that we went boating.
I remember the last time we went boating. That was about one or two years ago, I wanted to switch boats (don’t ask why) and at that time I did not know Newton’s third Law of Motion that states to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Thus, plop! I went into the lake. I still remember watching my slipper swim beside me. This time though I was armed with this physics law and did not fall into the water. I really enjoyed my first time kayaking. 
Without us noticing, it was soon the last day spent with them this year and I was suppose to go for Church Youth Camp in one hour. The thing I noticed though as Jon hugged me while saying, “Bye Ming!” was how much he had grew and how much I had come to really love kids. Also, I realized a special thing about my cousins, was that although we could be doing the most ordinary things, I had always enjoyed them much more with them around. They say that company is more important than activity. I testify to that.
Twas’ ended this year’s reunion.
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